Western University's Global Learning Awards

When you search www.scholarshipscanada.com as a starting point for your research, keep in mind that your university has a variety of other grants on offer too. Even small grants can open doors for you, by flipping the switch on a potential international education experience from ‘great but just not possible now’ to ‘I’ve booked my plane tickets to China already!’ For example, Western University is currently awarding 50 to 100 Global Opportunities awards to students working, traveling or studying abroad this summer. The awards range from 1,000 to 2,000 dollars. The students who applied for these awards are part of a group willing to keep their eyes and ears open to scholarship opportunities anywhere at any time - from professors, student newspapers, subscriptions to social media sites, even the bulletin board at the campus community centre.

Consider your scholarship search from a return on investment perspective. If you spent five hours preparing a successful application for a $2,000 scholarship, then you earned the equivalent of $400 per hour – an excellent return on those five hours, especially compared with alternate ways of earning that sum. Even though competition to win awards can be high – 450 Western students applied for those 100 Global Opportunities – every time you write and submit an application you are honing and improving your research, presentation and writing skills and, in some cases, interview skills. After all, you are asking someone to make an investment in you and your potential in hopes of providing a large return (the improvement in your skills and your contribution to society). The scholarship application you submitted with negative results in April, after thoughtful reflection and improvements, could be the starting point for a successful application to another opportunity in May or a job search later on.